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American Morning: Wake Up Call
"Mean, Swift & Highly Dangerous"; Dueling Jobs Plan; CDC: Fewer Americans Smoke; Restaurants Want Food Stamp Customers; Postal Service Wants To Cut Jobs
Aired September 07, 2011 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Wednesday, September 7th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Ali Velshi joining you live this morning from New York.
Let's start with the fast and furious wildfires wrecking land and property in Texas and turning lives upside down. They've killed four people and destroyed more than 700 homes in the past few days.
The biggest fire is just outside Austin. Firefighters have been struggling to contain it.
Let's go right to CNN's Chris Welch. He's in Bastrop County, Texas.
Chris, what's the latest?
CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, you just mentioned that four deaths so far, at this point, associated with these fires. Two of those came from here in Bastrop County. That occurred -- those occurred, well, we assume they occurred yesterday. We don't know for sure because officials at this point aren't providing more details.
What we do know is, this morning search crews will finally be going in for the first time over the past three days, 100 members search teams will go in this morning, look for, you know, anymore fatalities, look for any bodies. They hope, obviously, that they don't find anymore. But these fires have been very massive. We're talking -- these fires are 30 percent contained.
Now, that honestly is a big step from what we've seen in the last few days because over the last two or three day, each day it's been zero percent contained. So, 30 percent from yesterday afternoon until now is a pretty big step. And I think officials attribute that to the weather. The wind yesterday was a lot less fierce than it was two days ago and officials are hoping that holds out today so they can make a little more progress on this fire -- Ali.
VELSHI: Chris, give me some sense of where it starts to threaten urban areas. Obviously, this is something that they've had fires in Texas for several months now. They've had this drought. But at this point, they're getting very close to some urban areas.
WELCH: They are. I mean, these fires basically surround the city of Austin. They're not getting close to city center, but here in Bastrop County, which is, you know, several miles east of Austin, the city of Bastrop itself has several homes -- several subdivisions where homes are clustered together. This is not just a rural area where you got one home, say, every few acres, every mile or so. There are have been -- you know, there's areas where there are lots of homes.
Now, as it spreads, it's going further south. It's getting into areas that are less populated. Officials I guess that's one thing they're thankful for, but still, these are some very serious fires that aren't letting up anytime soon.
VELSHI: Chris, we'll stay on top of the story with you and Jim Spellman down there in Texas. Thanks for joining us -- Chris Welch in Bastrop, Texas.
Those fires, by the way, are so big you can see them from space. The winds calmed down a little bit on Tuesday. That, as Chris, was a big help.
Let's go over to Rob Marciano in our weather center.
Rob, what's going on? Do we have weather conditions that are going to help these firefighters?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're not going to get any rain, so that's one thing. We don't see any rains really until further notice, Ali. Winds today, maybe a little bit stronger than yesterday, but humidity levels will be about the same. And it will remain relatively cool.
I want to show you this picture. This is where Austin skyline there in the foreground looking into the south and east towards that fire, about 20, 30 miles away and it just gives you an idea the scope of this thing. Wind blowing away from Austin it, that's the good news. So air quality, although it's bad east of the fire, Austin should be OK.
Ninety-five in Austin, 89 degrees in Dallas. This is, believe it or not, much cooler than it has been the past couple of weeks. So, they will take it. East Coast going to see some storms today. So, be aware of that.
Speaking of storm, here's Katia, category 1 strength right now. And the forecast is, of course, for it to turn off towards the north and east. Big time waves and rip currents still are going to be an issue there across the East Coast. So if you're tempted to go out there, even though the weather is kind of nasty, just don't tip the toes in the water unless you know what you're doing.
Tropical depression number 14 continues to look promising here and taking a track similar to Katia. But lower. And that's not good. That means it may have a better chance next week sometime to make it closer to the U.S.
And closer to the U.S., Ali, this thing right here, 40 percent chance of seeing it develop, it's in the southern Gulf of Mexico. It's probably going to fly a hurricane hunter aircraft later on today to check it out. Some of our computer models bring this to the U.S. in some ways, shape or form this weekend or the beginning of next week. So, it bears watching very, very closely. It could turn out to be another Lee which sprung up real quick and then made a quick attack on the Gulf Coast and we're still feeling the effects of Lee right now -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Rob. We'll check in with you in a little bit. Good to see you, my friend.
MARCIANO: You too.
VELSHI: Rob Marciano in the weather center.
Let me give you a quick round up of some news that you're going to hear about today starting with that mass shooting at an IHOP in Carson City, Nevada. A fourth person has how died. Three of the dead were members of the Nevada National Guard, another was a female civilian. Several other people were rounded.
Police say the gunman was 32-year-old Eduardo Sencion. He was deliberately targeting guardsmen. He went there with an AK-47.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just started hearing it sounded like machine guns or firecrackers or something. It was loud.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've seen people running out of the building. I asked the people running out what happened, what happened. There was people hiding underneath cars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Authorities have not said anything about a motive, but the FBI says it doesn't appear to be connected to terrorism.
Some big news happening right now in India. Bomb blast outside the Delhi high court killed at least nine people and left more than 60 hurt. The bomb was in a brief case and exploded during one of the court's busies days. It's not clear yet who is responsible, but there was a blast outside the same court complex in May. No one was hurt in that one.
And we're hearing more about the future of U.S. troops in Iraq. A senior Pentagon official says one option is to keep just 3,000 forces there starting next year. The official stresses that no final decisions have been made. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the number depends on the Iraqis. Right now, more than 40,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq. And they're all supposed to be out by the end of the year.
And speaking of the Iraq invasion back in 2003, does former Vice President Dick Cheney have any regrets about it?
Here's what he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think Bashar Assad is not long for this world either. It looks to me like he's -- he's on his way out because of the unrest that's been occasioned by his own people inside Syria. He's one of the least popular leaders in that part of the world. It's the Middle East and stuff happens in the Middle East. You know it, you've covered it for years. But you cannot -- I don't think you can make the case that the world would be better off today if Saddam Hussein was still in power.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: So no regret about Iraq?
CHENEY: I think we made exactly the right decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: John Edwards' lawyers are trying to get the charges expense him tossed out. They filed the motions to that end. The former senator and Democratic presidential candidate is accused of breaking campaign contribution laws. His attorneys say the charges are unconstitutionally vague, that's a quote, and politically motivated. They also say Edwards should not have been indicted.
All right. As we get closer to election year, debate, speeches and statements get more fired up and comedians are taking the opportunity to bash those who are making particularly fiery claims.
Here's Jon Stewart with your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: James Hoffa Jr., sure, no relation, took the stage to warm up the crowd for the president of the United States as only a foreman (ph) can.
JAMES HOFFA, JR., TEAMSTERS UNION: Everybody here has got to vote, if we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.
STEWART: And don't touch my microphone (EXPLETIVE DELETED) that's a union job. If Hoffa's goal was to get people up on their feet and hollering, he succeeded.
AMY KREMER: This is inciting violence. It is call to go take us out. What exactly does he mean by take us out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president should repudiate it.
STEWART: It's odd that the Tea Party and the right have suddenly developed an allergic reaction to violent rhetoric since they've spend the past couple of years talking like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your musket, to fix your bayonet, and to charge into the ranks.
STEWART: To be fair, he was keynoting the broken bayonet association of America.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: A British company may have come up with a way to beat the infrared technology and it actually reminds me of a creep from a "Harry Potter" movie. I'll tell you about that when we come back.
But, first, check out the quote of the day. "F all the Army troops." Find out who said it and what's being done about it now.
Nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. It is 10 minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
Back to the quote of the day. Quote, "F all the Army troops." There's a swear word in there. Lyrics from a song that rapper Soulja Boy called "Let's be Real."
According to TMZ, a spokesman for the military retail outlet called the Exchange says the album would not be sold in their stores. The 21-year-old rapper has apologized.
He posted this on the Web site globalgrind.com. Quote, "When I expressed my frustration, not only did my words come out wrong, I was wrong to even speak them."
Time now for an update on what's making headlines in the high tech world. Let's go to Kristie Lu Stout live in Hong Kong.
Kristie, good to see you. Good morning to you. That iPhone 5 left somewhere makes me think Apple needs to be rethinking how it controls its unreleased products.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, that's right. And it has an HR strategy. Apple is now hiring a new product security manager or someone who can stop iPhone prototypes from getting lost in bars.
Now, it is a full-time job at the Cupertino. The candidate will oversee, quote, "The protection of and managing risks to Apple's unreleased products and related intellectual property."\
The notice was posted on Apple's Website. And this comes after a second prototype went missing last month. And, of course, last year, an Apple exec left an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar. So here's hoping the new hire will end the trend -- Ali.
VELSHI: I guess I would have assumed they had somebody given that they have such secrecy over their products. But all right. Fair enough. If anybody knows they've qualified for that job, apply for it.
All right. Let's talk about this British company.
STOUT: Yes.
VELSHI: This is neat. They're set to unveil an invisibility cloak.
STOUT: That's right. This is really neat. And this cloak is not created by J.K. Rowling, but by the British defense company BAE.
It's called the Adaptiv system, and it can hide an entire tank by tricking infrared technology. It uses a matrix of pixels that can change temperature very quickly, as well as on board cameras to film the surround area and then display the infrared pattern on the vehicles. In doing so, a tank can be invisible in the infrared spectrum. So, it's hidden away from stuff like heat-seeking missiles, or heat sensitive goggles. So, Ali, it's not quite the invisibility cloak of Harry Potter fame, but a big step forward in battlefield camouflage -- Ali.
VELSH: So, in theory, if I was sitting in front of this tank with the invisibility cloak, I'd still see the tank. But if you're looking for that using infrared, you wouldn't.
STOUT: That's right. Only in the infrared spectrum you would be invisible.
VELSHI: All right. Well, that's a good start. Invisible to somebody, that's kind of neat.
STOUT: Everyone will play around it one day.
VELSHI: Yes. That's right. I have a lot of people look nothing for me in infrared. Kristie, good to see you -- Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.
All right. Android phones could be deployed phones could be deployed on the battle field. The Army's Nett Warrior Program has been working to develop its own technology for years, but now, wired news says the military's tapped an Android to power these wearable computers. The goal is to give soldiers better communication in mapping technology in the field.
And could electric helicopters be in our future? Today, we're a small step closer to first un-tethered fully electric manned helicopter has taken flight. Swiss engineer Paschal Chretien designed and built this prototype.
The history-making flight was brief. It lasted over two minutes and reached a maximum height of three feet. Hey, like the invisible cloaking device, it's a start.
All right. The butter sculpture is one of the highlights of the New York state fair. It used to get tossed in the trash when the fair ended. But this year, it's becoming fuel.
Local students are taking it apart, melting it down at a lab on campus. Students from the state university's of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry will turn the 900 pounds of butter into about 100 gallons of biodiesel which will be used to fuel vehicles on campus. I thought they were going to butter a lot of bagels with it.
A controversial online game targets Tea Party favorites like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. Critics are saying it goes way too far. Let's talk about it in 90 seconds.
It's 15 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Well, two big events in politics this week: the president's jobs speech and the GOP debate. And for comedians, the gloves are already coming off.
Here's Jon Stewart and comedian John Oliver.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JOHN OLIVER, COMEDIAN: A presidential speech and a presidential debate on the same night. You are forcing America into a nightmare scenario. On one channel, is the president using the joint session to unveil a plan which realistically can do little to diminish America's soaring unemployment rate. While at the very same time, a handful of presidential candidates about whom their own party can't even get excited will competitively pander to a small but vocal collection of elderly lunatics.
STEWART: You really believe this would have been a big problem if both things happened the same night?
OLIVER: Huge. The public conundrum wouldn't have ended there. They still have the option of missing both political events and watching ghosts caught on tape on the Biography Channel.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: I wonder if we'll do that.
Time now for your Political Ticker with Tim Farley. He's host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS, live from Washington.
Good morning, Tim.
What is going on there? You got a black shirt and white tie with dots on it on?
TIM FARLEY, SIRIUS XM POTUS: I've got my -- I've got my whole outfit all picked out just for you, Ali. I heard you were coming back this morning.
VELSHI: Good to see you. That's my welcome back outfit you got on.
Tim, President Obama is going to unveil his big jobs plan tomorrow. Mitt Romney laid out his yesterday. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama's strategy is a payphone strategy and we're in a smartphone world. And so we're going to have to change. What he's doing is taking quarters and stuffing them in to the pay phone and thinking -- can't figure out why it's not working. It's not connected anymore, Mr. President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: I have to tell you, the president does it, too. I hate these oversimplified analyses with jobs, although I have to give to Mitt Romney, he put out a very long jobs plan, 59 points. And I'm hoping the president -- I mean, the business guy in me hopes that the president has some good meat and detail in his plan, as well.
FARLEY: A hundred sixty-one pages, it's all available on Kindle.
VELSHI: Yes.
FARLEY: So he's getting a little high tech with this, too.
I think what we're talking about, Ali, is when the president -- there is no way he can live up to any expectations tomorrow. We're already seeing drib and drabs. I know CNN is reporting $300 billion worth of things that he's really already been talking about, including payroll tax extensions and maybe some investment in infrastructure.
Here's where the battle is shaping up right now. It's still in the middle on those independent voters. And increasingly, Democrats are going to start painting more Republican candidates as extreme, Rick Perry for example, Sarah Palin. Mitt Romney is trying to come across as the reasonable one and laying this out. He'll have something to refer to whenever he gets out on the campaign trail. Look at my jobs plan.
If the economy is still in the tank a year from now, the president will have a difficult time beating almost anyone. But certainly he'll have a tougher time against a so-called reasonable candidate.
VELSHI: So, we journalists enjoy plans, something to sink our teeth into. And at least point in some direction. So, yes, it's a long and detailed one.
Hey, listen, this is -- this is troubling. There is a video game that's out that targets Tea Party favorites like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and a whole bunch of others in a video game where you can simulate killing them.
FARLEY: Yes. Tea Party zombies must die. This is done by a group called -- well, a company that's called starvingeyes.com. It shouldn't really come as a big surprise. They did something called kung fu election in 2008 which had all the major candidates.
What's interesting to me about this, Ali, is that the Tea Party has become a symbol for something and you can just slap that label I guess on whichever politician you want to -- but that aside from the fact that this is very graphic. The owner of the company is quoted as saying that this is a personal project, "I'm not worried about it affecting business" because they do have some mainstream clients like hotels.com, for example.
VELSHI: Right.
FARLEY: But it's in the age of viral video and what is this doing? It's getting noticed on shows like this this morning.
VELSHI: Yes. I suspect this is going to come back and bite them a little bit. It goes a little far, the idea that it's more than just candidates as you said. They got some journalists on there. They got all sorts of people who are thought of --
FARLEY: And there's Uzis and there are swords. I mean, it's pretty graphic.
VELSHI: It's pretty graphic. I took a look at it.
Tim, good to see you, as always, my friend. Keep well.
FARLEY: Thanks.
VELSHI: Tim Farley -- is the host of the I like that -- Tim Farley is the host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS.
All right. Before with we go, today is National Day of Neither Rain Nor Snow. Really doesn't have anything to do with the weather. It actually celebrates the opening of the New York Post Office building back in 1914. The inscription on the side of the building reads "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Mail is still processed in that building -- the Jacob Farley Building -- to this day.
It's 21 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
Let's go around the world with Zain Verjee live from London.
Zain, good morning. So good to see you after so long.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, I missed you. You loved me and left me, Ali.
VELSHI: I know. But I'm back. I'm back.
And tell me about this convoy, this military convoy that passed through southern Libya into Niger. And there are -- I've heard all sorts of things. I've heard that rumors that maybe Gadhafi is in it, maybe not him. Maybe people who are close to him.
What do we know about this?
VERJEE: Nobody really knows for sure. There have been so many conflicts reports. I'll tell you what the U.S. State Department is saying.
They say, first of all, that they view this as one convoy, not as two separate ones, as other sources had previously reported. And they say that they do not believe that Moammar Gadhafi is in that convoy. It's believed that there are senior members of the Gadhafi regime in it for example, the head of Gadhafi's family security is in that convoy, says the U.S. State Department.
Now, the U.S. ambassador to Niger also spoke to Nigerian officials saying, look, if there's anyone that needs to be detained in there, arrested, who is expected to be prosecuted, that they have to do it. Niger has signed the treaty of Rome, the Rome statute, which basically means that they're obliged to arrest anyone and hand them over to the International Criminal Court if they demand it.
But where is Moammar Gadhafi? If I have that million-dollar answer, Ali, you know, that would be amazing. But nobody really knows.
VELSHI: Yes. And he has fostered good relations with his neighboring countries, including Niger. I don't know whether he was doing that just to benevolent or a good neighbor, or because one day he might need that exit strategy.
Hey, let's go to New Zealand. Let's talk about the cathedral which was damaged after a big earthquake. My understanding is they're rebuilding this in cardboard.
VERJEE: They are. They want to build this iconic structure in cardboard. Let me just give you a sense of the numbers here, OK? They've got 86 paper tubes, each of which weigh more than 1,000 pounds. And they're going to actually place them on shipping containers, as well.
And they want to bid the exact same structure. Even in Christchurch, New Zealand, they had the famous bell tower which was also destroyed. So, that's what they hope to do. Remember, this happened in February. It was a 6.3 magnitude quake that totally destroyed Christchurch. So, they want to build something iconic that they can remember it by.
VELSHI: Very interesting. I'll be looking forward to seeing that. Is it going to be something -- is it going to be indoors? Is it going to be protected from the rain? Like what happens when you paper cardboard tubes?
VERJEE: When it rains. Right. They must have considered that. Probably will be shall kind of a protective thing, you know? I'm glad they're doing it.
VELSHI: Yes. Zain, good to see you.
VERJEE: Ali, it's great -- it's good to see you. When you're not here, I'll have to have a cardboard Ali next to me.
VELSHI: That's right. We can work on that and make sure you keep it out of the rain.
Zain Verjee in London.
OK. Fast food chains are zeroing in on food stamp customers. After all, there's big money to be made. Here's who is lobbying to get in on the food stamp action after the break.
It's 27 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Good morning. It is Wednesday, September 7th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi joining you live this morning from New York. Thirty minutes after the hour.
Wildfires in Texas are destroying homes, 700 homes, in just 48 hours. That is one house every four minutes up in flames. So far, four people have died, two of them just yesterday. The biggest fire is near Austin. It's scorching about 33,000 acres. So far, our crews were with one woman returning to her neighborhood for the first time since the fire passed through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICHELLE BIELINSKI, FIRE VICTIM: That's my house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here?
BIELINSKI: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I'm sorry.
BIELINSKI: Oh, yes. The oak trees are still there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our passports are gone. Everything's gone. We have no pictures. Everything's gone. We got out with actually what we were wearing and our cars. And our family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Wow. Wow. Hundreds of firefighters on the frontlines battling what Texas governor, Rick Perry, is calling a monstrous storm, a smoking fire. Look at it there. iReporter, Loren Vanzen (ph), captured some of that monster smoke billowing up and blackening the sky just outside of Austin. You can see it very clearly from Austin.
The backdrop glows orange in this photo. It was snapped about 130 miles east of Austin and Magnolia, Texas. People who live in this neighborhood say they had just minutes to gather what they could and get out as the flames moved in.
Let's talk now about Hurricane Katia. It's weakened to a Category 1 storm. It is churning through the Atlantic with winds around 90 miles per hour. A storm watch is up in Bermuda, but forecast maps show it veering away from the east coast. Still expect big swells and rip currents in the coming days.
And much of the mid-Atlantic and northeast getting hid with tropical storm Lee's leftovers. It's soggy, it's windy, and it continues its trek northward back in the Gulf of Mexico. About 60 percent of oil production is still shut down from the storm. Companies are now working to re-staff the oil platforms and rigs. They're checking for damage before they get back up to speed. The Gulf of Mexico accounts for about a third of all U.S. oil production.
Well, fewer Americans are smoking, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and the ones who do are lighting up less. About 45 million American adults now smoke. That is down about three million from five years ago. As for habitual smokers, people who smoke more than a pack and a half each day, their numbers dropped to eight percent, down five percentage points from 2005.
Well, the company that owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell wants food stamp customers. It's lobbying to be part of the federal program which gave out nearly $65 million in benefits last year. That's big money that typically goes to grocery stores, but fast-food restaurants want in, and that has helped advocates riled up. Generally, food stamps cannot be used for prepared foods even within a grocery store, but there are some exceptions for elderly, disabled, and homeless recipients.
Well, as business is running country's largest coffee chain, but Starbucks CEO is also dipping in to Washington's business. What he's asking other Americans to do? Coming up It is 33 after the hour.
But first, get out today's -- let's check out today's "Get Smart" question. Which city ranked as the most vulnerable American city to winter weather? This is according to the Farmer's Almanac. A. Washington, B. Chicago, or C. Atlanta. The answer coming up in just two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Thirty-five minutes after the hour. This is you're A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Let's get back to today's "Get Smart" question. Which city ranked as the most vulnerable American city to winter weather according to Farmer's Almanac? A. Washington, B. Chicago, or C. Atlanta. The answer is A, Washington. Chicago came in second. Atlanta was third.
All right. Time now for our "Political Ticker." Let's bring in our senior political editor, Mark Preston. He's live on the phone from Washington. Good morning, Mark.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR (on the phone): Hey, Ali. Good morning. How are you?
VELSHI: I'm well. I'm well. We've got some news this morning that lawyers for former Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, are filing a motion to get the charges against him dismissed. What's the news here?
PRESTON: Well, yes. And so, what we saw yesterday, Ali, was that the lawyers for the former North Carolina senator said that these charges that had been placed yet on him which include conspiracy and issuing false statements and violating campaign contribution laws should be thrown out and the reason being, they said that they're unconstitutional, that the charges were vague, and that they were driven by political motives now.
This all goes back to John Edwards trying to cover up that extramarital affair he had with a campaign worker at the time that he was running for president. You know, Ali, if he were to get indicted and caught up in all this, he could potentially face 30 years in prison and a fine of $1.5 million. So, wow. How the mighty have fallen?
VELSHI: OK. We'll follow that one closely. Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, I'm going to be talking to him a little later this morning, he's now pleading with Americans. He's taken out full-page ads in newspapers to urge Washington politicians to get along. Is this getting any traction amongst politicians?
PRESTON: You know, it's gaining traction in some sectors of the business community. We haven't seen it really gain traction here in Washington. You know, interesting, he held a conference call last night with supporters, and he called on every day Americans to get on the phone, to start writing letters, to start sending e-mails to Congress demanding that civility come here to Washington.
Now, I got to say, good luck to Howard Schultz in trying to bring civility here to Washington, where he has been successful and though (ph) that he's convinced some of his fellow executives at some of the big companies like Whole Foods and AOL and Zip Car to hold back political donations, but, this is interesting, Ali, because we often hear the business community come together at times when they're trying to get Washington to try to beat back some of the regulations that we see here in Washington.
This is interesting now that we see a CEO come out and really just call for straight up civility here in Washington. So, it's interesting to see if he'll make any traction on it.
VELSHI: Well, he's done a lot of interesting things. He's brought coffee to everybody's corner at a higher price than they were prepare to pay. So, maybe he's got something up his sleeve. I'm going to be talking to him a little later. Good to see you, my friend. I'll talk to you later as well.
PRESTON: All right. Thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. I'll be talking to Howard Schultz at 8:10 a.m. on "American Morning."
All right. The U.S. Postal Service is proposing to make big cuts to its payroll. Those job cuts could weigh heavily on minorities and veterans who make up a large part of the postal service workforce. I'll have a closer look at that just ahead. It's 38 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: That is a beautiful picture of L.A.X. Love it before the sun comes up in L.A. Those pillars lit up. Beautiful if you're flying in early in the morning.
Let's take you to the other side of the country now. A strong warning on Capitol Hill yesterday from the U.S. postmaster general. He says the U.S. Postal Service will not be able to pay $5.5 billion in health benefits that come due at the end of the month. Let's go to Carter Evans. He's live in New York at the NASDAQ MarketSite.
Carter, let's talk about this. One of the things the postmaster general wants to do is be able to lay off 120,000 employees. And the postal service is heavily populated with minorities, with African Americans, with veterans. A lot of people saying this is really going to give the middle class yet another hit that it didn't need.
CARTER EVANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's certainly going to hurt a lot of people. I mean, this is a terrible time to begin to layoff 120,000 people, a terrible time in our economy. But it's going to, especially, hit a couple of classes. Let's talk about African Americans. For one, they make up 21 percent of the work force at the U.S. Postal Service. Veterans make up 22 percent.
Now, the postal service has said it's going to try to spare veterans as much as possible, but critics are saying, Ali, hey, look at this. If you're going to shut down a plant entirely for a region, everybody there is going to lose their job, unless, they can relocate somewhere else. So, it's not going to be a situation where you can pick and choose, because the post office is looking at 3,700 facilities to close down right now.
VELSHI: Yes. And he doesn't actually have the authority to do this right now, but he's asking Congress for it. I'll be talking to him a little later on, as well. Hey, let's talk about Yahoo! The CEO of Yahoo! gets fired quite suddenly yesterday, and the stock actually shoots up as a result. What do we know about this?
EVANS: Yes, So, this is Carol Bartz. She's been CEO of a Yahoo! for a little more than two years right now. She took over when Yahoo! co-founder, Jerry Yang, stepped down after that whole Microsoft debacle, when Yahoo! turned down a $47 billion buyout deal for Microsoft. Well, you know, Carol Bartz has been kind of controversial during her reign at Yahoo! She's had a whole lot of critics, and the stock price while she's been CEO is essentially flat. It has not done anything else, but the NASDAQ Composite during that time is up about 60 percent. So, a lot of people are looking at Yahoo!, plus, the exodus of management there under her leadership and saying, hey, what's going on? Something has got to change. Well, that happened yesterday. And she wrote an e-mail to employees explaining that she was fired over the phone, and she sent that e-mail from our iPad.
VELSHI: She said that out before they shut her account down. All right. Carter, I'll talk to you a little later. Carter Evans at the NASDAQ MarketSite.
Quickly, let me bring you up to speed with what's going on in the world of sports. The NBA and locked out players will be back at the negotiating table today. This will be their third meeting since the labor dispute started on July 1st. The commissioner says there's time to get the dispute settle before training camp opens next month.
And if you're planning to buy a Super Bowl ad with the $3.5 million, you've got lying around, you better do it soon. NBC says there are only five 30-second spots left. Not too shabby considering the regular season doesn't start until tomorrow.
And you're about to see the nicest out ever. Brandon Phillips of the Cincinnati Red heads for home. He's not going to make it. He gets tagged out about 30 feet from the home plate by Cubs catcher, Geovany Soto. It such a warm, classy, and polite tag out. Phillips gives Soto a hug. Wouldn't the world be a nicer place if there were more outs like this? Look at that.
And this date in history back in 1979, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network debuted on cable TV. ESPN debuted sports center the same day. It's still going strong to this day. According to the ESPN website, up to 115 million viewers catch sports center every month. Forty-four minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Good morning. It's Wednesday, September the 7th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi in for Carol Costello this morning, joining you live from New York. It is 47 minutes after the hour.
Let's go around the world with Zain Verjee live in London. Zain, we've got some breaking news out of India. A bomb, a briefcase bomb, exploded outside the Delhi high court. What do we know?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know, Ali, that at least nine people have been killed and at least 61 people have now been injured, that according to police and officials on the scene. Right now, forensic experts, firefighters, as well as security forces are at the high court. What we believe happened was that this briefcase bomb exploded outside one of the main entrances into the court complex. This was gate number five.
It's known for having litigators and lawyers coming in, mostly through that specific entrance. It's not clear who's responsible for this, but the court has been targeted in the past. Before, there was a car bomb about four months or so ago, and this is, obviously, a target according to one of the senior ministers in the Indian government. The city is on high alert, and so are other major cities in the country.
VELSHI: And that last one that bombed several months ago, nobody was injured or killed in that one, but here, we do have injuries and some deaths. All right. Talk to me about the soccer game. In Egypt, there was a big fight that broke out at the soccer game. What happened?
VERJEE: Yes. It was a really awful situation. Basically, what happened is that the fans suddenly started chanting toward the police that were there, the riot police who were in position, and they just basically insulted Hosni Mubarak, the former leader. They insulted the former interior minister, and then they started to insult the police.
So, the police got really angry, and then, they just lashed out at the protesters and the fans there. There was about 130 people, Ali, injured and taken to hospital, but that was the crux of it. It was the insults that were thrown back and forth. They're calling them provocative shouts that triggered this kind of scenes.
VELSHI: And while the military has always had a better relationship with the populous in Egypt, there has always been tension between the police and populous. So, we're seeing that flare up here. Zain, good to see you as always. I'll talk to you a little later on "American Morning."
All right. You're going to hear a lot about those enormous fires burning near Austin, Texas today. They are so big you can see them from the sky. This is the view from the International Space Station 200 miles above earth. The wind died down a bit yesterday. It helped firefighters for a change. Let's go to Rob Marciano in our weather center. Rob, what are conditions looking like today?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Similar to yesterday. Winds may be a little bit stronger. I want to show you something a vivid picture here of the fires as seen from kind of the northwest side of Austin with Austin in the foreground there looking to the south and east where those fires are about 20, 30 miles away. And you can see how the smoke from this thing hangs low to the ground. High pressure overhead, obviously.
That's what's bringing the dry air, but poor air quality east of the fire. That is not where Austin is, but folks who live down wind, obviously, are going to be dealing with smoke for quite some time. Temperatures about where they were yesterday maybe a couple of degrees warmer. The east coast is going to see some storms and some rain kind of leftovers from Lee. And meanwhile, fall-like temperatures across the Western Great Lakes down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Will we get some of this rain in the tropics to Texas? Well, 40 percent chance of this storm developing in the Gulf of Mexico aircraft and likely flying there this afternoon to check it out. Computer models all over the place as far as where that's going to go. So, stay tuned. Meanwhile, Hurricane Katia, we know where this is going. It's a Category 1 storm. It's going to split the difference between Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, and then, peel off to sea.
Big tides, big waves, and big rip currents. Stay out of the water on the east coast until this thing passes. Tropical depression number 14, meanwhile, is gathering intensity. Actually (ph) moving 19 miles an hour. Way out there in the Atlantic. We don't have to worry about this for a week or so, but, we may have to worry about this one more than we worried about Katia.
Getting to the height of hurricane season, September 11th to 12th, this is the peak, and we're not quite there yet. Mother Nature acting accordingly. Ali, back over to you.
VELSHI: When do we decide to name that tropical storm?
MARCIANO: Well, the experts at the National Hurricane Center will look at their satellite imagery, and they've got a way that they determine via the satellite whether or not it's become strong after the tropical storm. That may be later today. And this thing in the Gulf of Mexico may be a tropical depression or have a name later today, as well.
VELSHI: All right. My friend, we'll talk to you a little later. Rob Marciano in our weather center.
Hey, here's a quick round up of some other news you'll hear about today. A fourth person has died in that restaurant shooting in Carson City, Nevada. Three of the dead were members of the Nevada National Guard. Another was a female civilian. Several other people were wounded. Police say the gunman was 32-year-old, Eduardo Sencion. He took his own life. they believe he was deliberately targeting guards men with his AK-47.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just started hearing sounded like machine guns or firecrackers or something. It was loud.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've seen people running out of the building. I asked the people that were running out what happened, what happened, there was people hiding under these cars.
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VELSHI: Now, we're hearing more about the future of U.S. troops in Iraq. A senior Pentagon official says one option is to have just 3,000 forces there starting next year. The official stresses that no final decisions have been made. Right now, more than 40,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq, but they're supposed to be out by the end of the year.
And speaking of Iraq, does former Vice President Dick Cheney have any regrets about the decision to invade Iraq back in 2003? Here's what he told CNNs Wolf Blitzer.
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DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think you can make the case that the world would be better off today if Sadam Hussein was still in power.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: So, no regrets about Iraq.
CHENEY: I think we made the exactly right decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: That's, of course, part of his new book.
Check out the word of the dead, by the way. NSAIDs. Find out what it means and how it can put pregnancies at risk coming up right after the short break. It's 53 minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Fifty-six minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Now, back to the word of the day, NSAIDs. It stands for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says pregnant women who take these drugs in the early days of their pregnancy have a higher risk of miscarriage. The two most common non-aspirin NSAIDs are naproxen and ibuprofen. And, of course, check with your doctor before taking any over-the-counter or prescription drugs.
Well, a new poll out shows some bleak numbers when it comes to how people are feeling about the state of the country. Sounds depressing, but comedians had some fun with it. Here's your punch line.
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JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": According to latest "Wall Street Journal" poll, a record 73 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. But the good news, gas is so expensive and traffic is so bad, we'll never get there. So, yes --
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STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Americans are feeling pretty shaky as it is. Polls show that just 22 percent of Americans are satisfied with their lives, only 45 percent are satisfied with their work, 75 percent believe the country is on the wrong track, and 93 percent were too depressed to respond to the pollster.
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VELSHI: All right. Let's go to Carter Evans for a look at your money this morning. He joins us live from the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York. What is it now? It's Wednesday. No, it's Thursday, right? No, it's Wednesday.
EVANS: Wednesday.
VELSHI: So, we've had a couple of rough days on the market. What are we looking at this morning?
EVANS: I know. It's hard to keep track when they're down days. You know, things are looking a little bit better today. We do have the feds beige book survey of several economic regions around the country. Take a look at our futures, though, right now. Dow futures on the positive side up about 44 points. NASDAQ futures up 11. S&P futures up about 6 points. It looks like we could have a positive open. I'm noticing the FTSE in London and the Dax in Germany are looking up as well this morning.
VELSHI: That's good. Let's see if we can hold on to that. What's making headlines on CNNMoney.com?
EVANS: Well, you know, with all the talk about our entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicare, disability, there's a story on CNNMoney.com today that you should read. It talks about Social Security paying millions of dollars to dead people. In 2008, this is the most recent numbers, nearly 2,000 deceased beneficiaries were still receiving benefits for months, sometimes, even years.
So, the most recent data in 2008 shows that the Social Security Administration paid more than $40 million to dead people. If we could just resolve those problem, it seems like we'd be a couple of steps ahead.
VELSHI: Yes, if there are a bunch of those little things that we can tighten up. I wonder if this is a Social Security, if the blip is on their side or is it people not telling Social Security that somebody died?
EVANS: That's a good question, Ali. It's absolutely their fault, according to this report. They had these people entered into their death files.
VELSHI: Right.
EVANS: Yet, they are paying them anyway.
VELSHI: The plot there thickens a little bit. All right. Carter, that is definitely one we're studying. That looks like $40 million that we can get back really, really fast. Wonder if there are other things like that. Carter Evans at the NASDAQ MarketSite. We'll catch up with you later. I hope your predictions -- I know they're not yours -- but I hope the predictions about the markets doing well today sustains. Carter, good to see you.
That's it for us on WAKE-UP CALL. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
